|Concrete and Gold||dave grohl|

Chapter Seven•Halo

He could really go far with this, Eliza thought.

"All right, wanna help me move this on stage?" Dave asked.

"Sure." She said, picking up one of the cymbals and following him out the door and around the corner, coming to a door that was labeled "Stage Entrance".

He pushed the door open with his foot, leading her through a dark hallway. They finally came to what seemed to be the stage. There was a curtain concealing the views of the audience, who Eliza could hear chatting and laughing. From the sound of it, there seemed to be a lot fo people waiting for Scream to come out and play.

She put down the cymbals where Dave instructed her to, and followed him back to the room where they would take the rest of the set onto the stage.

Once it was all set up to Dave's liking, she watched as he hit each and every drum head and meticulously turned them all until they were tuned to his liking. She was fascinated how each slight turn could change the sound of the drum, and how Dave had a preference for each tone it would produce.

"I forgot. I need the set list." Dave told her. "Let's go back there and grab it."

Eliza then followed him through the dark hallway back to the dressing room, where he picked up the crumpled set list off the chair where he left it. He then stood there, unmoving.

"Hey, is everything ok?" Eliza asked as she sat him down in one of the chairs.

"Yeah, it's not like I'm nervous or anything. I've played in front of this amount of people before. It's just that, this time I'm playing with my heroes, you know? I've looked up to these guys for so long, and now they're looking at me to play with them. I can't screw this up."

"Oh, Dave." Eliza said, taking his hand into hers. "I'm sure you'll be quiet alright. You know these songs like the back of your hand. I can hear you playing all of the time in my room. Just pretend nobody's watching, and you will do just fine, I promise."

He looked up at her, wearing a thankful expression. His dark eyes had softened, and it seemed as though he was trying to mask a smile. "I really like you, Eliza."

"And I really like you, too."

"Come here." He said, folding her into a hug in his chest. They sat there like that for a few minutes, and Eliza could feel his once racing heartbeat slow, a sign that she was helping calm him down.

"Alright," he said, straightening up. "I'd better get going out there. I don't wanna miss anything."

"Where should I go when you play?"

"You can sit in the wings. You'll get a great view and you won't have to deal with whatever goes on in the pit."

Dave and Eliza stood up and started to walk out the door. Whatever came over Eliza in that very moment, she had no clue. All she knew is that she had to do it. She pulled him down by the neck of his shirt and kissed him, right on the lips. She lingered there for a second, tasting the sweetness of his lips, before pulling away.

"For good luck." She said as she led him out the door.

They walked towards the back entrance of the stage, where Dave pulled up a chair and sat Eliza down in it. He then walked over to a table and grabbed a roll of duct tape. He then took the set list from his back pocket and taped it to the floor next to where he'd be playing. After putting the tape back where he found it, he took a seat at his drum set.

After a minute, the rest of the band walked out onto the stage, all wishing each other different variations of good luck. Franz then walked over to Dave and gave him a good slap on the back.